This term is a corruption of farce-meats, from the French facir - to stuff.

American Forcemeat

Place in a saucepan two very finely-chopped onions with one ounce of butter on the fire for five minutes. Soak the crumb of a loaf of bread in water for fifteen minutes; press out all the water and put the crumb in a bowl with three eggs, one tablespoonful of salt, two teaspoonfuls of pepper, one tablespoonful of sage, half a teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, three skinned sausages and a pinch of chopped parsley; add the cooked onions and mix well together. The forcemeat is then ready for use.

Forcemeat For Pies

Chop half a pound of fat bacon with one pound of veal with the skin and fat taken off, add a little powdered herbs and mushroom catsup, two eggs, and a little salt to season. Mix well, roll up into balls and use for pies or any made dishes.

Forcemeat For Pigeons

Put into a basin two ounces of butter and beat it until it is nearly a cream, then add a quarter of a pound of breadcrumbs, a little finely-minced parsley, lemon peel, ground mace, grated nutmeg, salt and pepper, and bind the mass together with a well beaten egg.

Pike Forcemeat

Cut off the fillets of a cold boiled pike, rub them through a fine hair-sieve, weigh them, and to every pound of fish, add ten ounces of bread-panada and ten ounces of butter; mix well, season with salt and pepper, stir in two beaten eggs and moisten with reduced lean veloute sauce thickened with egg. When of the proper consistency for forcemeat, it is ready for use.

Pork Forcemeat With Bacon

Cut into slices a pound each of lean pork and lean bacon and place them in a stewpan with enough water to prevent the meat from sticking to the bottom of the pan, add a couple of ounces of butter, a teaspoonful of pepper and one onion cut into small pieces; cover over the pan and put it on the fire, letting it simmer gently until the meat is quite tender, then remove from the fire and mince very fine. Pour into the pan with the gravy a breakfast cupful of milk and add a little mace, herbs, salt and pepper to taste, together with six well-beaten eggs, stir thoroughly and add the meat. Line a circular tin dish with light paste and pour in the mixture, cover over with a lid of the paste, making a hole in the top and bake until done in a moderate oven. After it has become cold, turn out onto a dish, and serve.

Forcemeat Rissoles

Roll about a quarter of a pound of good puff paste on a board to the thickness of about half an inch and cut it into small rounds with a paste-cutter; put a little forcemeat on each one, wet the edges and cover them over with another round of paste. Mark the top with the paste-cutter and press round the edges. Put some butter into a fryingpan, and when it is boiling put in the rissoles and fry them until done. Take them out, drain, and serve on a dish-paper.

Forcemeat Of Shrimps

Take two or three breakfast cupfuls of shrimps, remove the shells, chop them up into very fine pieces and add an equal quantity of breadcrumbs, a little mace, and salt and pepper. Put this in a mortar and pound it with about three ounces of butter into a firm paste. Add the yolk of an egg to form the mixture into a smooth paste and use it for stuffing a fish to be baked.

Forcemeat For Roasted Suckling Pig

Parboil one or two small onions, chop them very fine, and add half an ounce of powdered sage, six ounces of sifted breadcrumbs and four ounces of butter; season with cayenne, salt and pepper, and add one egg to bind it into a mass. It will then be ready for use. If preferred, the onion may be left out of the stuffing altogether.

Truffle Forcemeat

Peel and wash one or two pounds of truffles; put them in a saucepan with a little butter, warm them, add an equal amount of calf's udder or scraped bacon and a little minced sweet herbs; when warm, turn the whole into a mortar and pound thoroughly. Sprinkle over a seasoning of pepper and salt, mix in some breadcrumbs soaked in milk, and sufficient yolks of eggs to give the forcemeat the required consistency. It is then ready for use.